Polo in the Park: Team New York captain on the glamorous London event
Pimms will be flowing and the sun will – hopefully – be shining down on west London when Chestertons Polo in the Park returns to Fulham’s Hurlingham Club later this month.
The event oozes glamour and prestige but Louisa Watt, captain of Team New York, insists the equine sport is one everyone can enjoy.
“It’s just such a fun sport,” Watt said. “It’s a real team sport, it’s definitely addictive.
“Some say there’s only two ways out, death or bankruptcy, but I think people misunderstand it as being an elitist sport.
“Actually, if you go to any of the clubs around London and get lessons, it’s probably the same [cost] as going for a round of golf.
“Polo is high-adrenaline, and I think what’s held it back is probably the televised version of it is not as good.
“Unless you go to a game, a lot of people will never have seen polo before other than in Pretty Woman.”
Polo is a hobby…
Watt is a partner at Brown Rudnick and is the leader of the firm’s special situations, distressed debt and trading practice group.
While she says office life is where she thrives, working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic has allowed her to spend more time with her horses, most of whom are named after alcohol – though Watt insists they arrived like that.
“I’ve been playing polo competitively for about 10 years,” she added. “But it’s a hobby, not my day job.
“It’s been one of the few positives of the pandemic, having a more flexible work life balance. Maybe some of the time that I would have been on the train I can now feel happy on a horse at seven in the morning.
“I think you can’t do everything. I think a lot of women and men try to achieve everything. And we’ve only got a certain amount of time and budget so you need to keep to both things. If you organise your time well, it works well.”
Saturday 11 June will see the first ever international women’s match in central London as Ladies Day takes over Polo in the Park, which runs from Friday to Sunday.
2,500 years of history
Watt is the first female team captain of Team New York and talks of the brilliant women who have come before her in the sport.
“Women have been playing polo for 2,500 years,” Watt said. “I am certainly not the first female polo player.
“Sheikha Maitha Al Maktoum leads the UAE polo team, there are some very strong females in polo.”
And as for Watt’s captaincy? “Polo in the Park is different from normal polo, there’s three players whereas normally you would have four,” she said.
“Teams essentially add up to 12 goals, that’s the handicap level of the game. We are lucky to have Serbastian Merlos playing with us who used to be a 10-goal Argentine who is now eight goals.
“I’ve also got Charles Cooney, who I’ve played with a lot, who is from the lesser-known polo island of Guernsey. He’s young and dynamic and keen to improve his handicap.
“There are a lot of parallels with business. We try to look like the swan on a lake, with legs [flapping] underneath.
“A lot of it is the energy you bring together as a team and the chemistry with each other when you play.
“Consistency is key, but mental strength and ability counts as much. If you’re winning you can’t get too conceited because it’s never over until the final bell goes.”